Nov. 13, 2010
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
RUSTON, La. - In its home opener, the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team withstood a scrappy Austin College team to win 90-58 Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Junior forward Olu Ashaolu recorded his second-consecutive double-double this season with 18 points, on 6-of-9 shooting, and 11 rebounds. The Toronto, Ontario native also added a career-high six assists, two steals and one block.
Senior guard DeAndre Brown scored a game-high 21 points and six assists.
"Defensively we have to do a much better job of keeping guys in front of us," said Tech head coach Kerry Rupp. "For us to be good, we have to defend, rebound and take care of the basketball. Tonight we had 18 turnovers and that's the thing that hurt us at Texas. We have to have some pride in taking care of the basketball."
The Kangaroos (0-1) pressured the ball almost the entire game and hit timely three-pointers to keep the score in the first half as the score was tied 16-16 at the 12:42 mark. However, the Bulldogs defense then held the Kangaroos without a field goal in a span of over six minutes as freshman Cordarius Johnson three-pointer to give Tech a 23-16 lead with 7:44 remaining in the half. The Bulldogs took a 42-33 lead into halftime.
Louisiana Tech (1-1) pulled away in the second half as they opened up a 22-point lead following a pair of Tevin Hall free throws to lead 65-43 with 12:11 remaining. The Bulldogs built its biggest lead of the night on the last bucket of the game with a J.L. Lewis three-pointer to give Tech a 90-58 win.
The Bulldogs shot 53.1 percent in the second half and 50 percent for the game. They held Austin College to just 32.8 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers. After producing just four assists at Texas on Wednesday, Tech shared the ball tremendously on Saturday with 18 assists.
"You got to tip your hat to Austin College." Rupp said. "They pressured us the whole game and went from zone to man defense. All of that helps us get better. "
The Bulldogs dominated down low, outscoring Austin College 46-14 in the paint as well as outrebounding them 47-38.
All 11 Bulldogs that played, scored as Lewis led the bench scoring with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and added four rebounds, three of them offensive. Freshman James Johnson recorded six points and seven rebounds and Cordarius Johnson added eight points.
Freshman Kenyon McNeaill earned his first start of the season. He scored eight points and was 2-for-4 from three-point range.
The NCAA Division III Kangaroo squad was led by Jordan Hancock's 16 points as four of his five field goals were from three-point range. Austin College had a quick trigger from beyond the arc as they were 10-for-31 (23.3 percent). Tech was 7-of-19 (36.8 percent).
The Bulldogs next host Houston on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center.
